After looking at the time for the umpteenth time, Mu Yan decided to wrap up work for the day.
Even though there was still plenty of time before their scheduled meeting, he decided to leave the office early anyway.
His state of mind today was simply too bizarre. Ever since stepping through the company doors this morning, his mind had kept wandering off.
It took him reading the department report twice just to barely grasp the final summary, and at the end of the meeting, he paused for a long while without offering any constructive feedback. Finally, he dismissed the meeting amidst the bewildered glances of his department managers.
He calmly analyzed the reason: Today was the day he had agreed with Ruan Shi to go pick up Ruan Nian.
The doctor’s post-examination recommendation was that Ruan Nian’s pheromones remained somewhat unstable, even after being marked. The best approach was to stay close to his own Alpha; should any unexpected issues arise, a high-compatibility pheromone would be able to soothe Ruan Nian to a certain extent.
Ruan Shi had been vague and evasive when explaining the exact details of Ruan Nian’s physical condition. Mu Yan knew Ruan Shi was unwilling to disclose it, and after bringing it up a few times with no results, he stopped asking.
A normal Omega’s first estrus period begins at age eighteen. Right before entering estrus, an Omega’s pheromones fluctuate, and they begin to feel physically unwell. These signals quickly alert the Omega and their family members, allowing them to take appropriate countermeasures.
In this regard, the government also provided a considerable number of free medical assistance channels to offer necessary protection to Omegas. After all, the potential negative social impact of an out-of-control Omega was quite substantial.
Yet Ruan Nian, who was only experiencing his first estrus at twenty, and seemed completely oblivious to the exact timing, clearly did not fall into the normal category.
Mu Yan had specifically consulted relevant experts, and he harbored certain suspicions in his heart. But he chose not to dwell on them.
If this was a matter Ruan Nian was unwilling to bring up, he would respect his wishes and silently play his part in this marriage.
Shortly after their conversation, Mu Yan had been genuinely surprised the moment he received Ruan Nian’s communication request.
Within a few days, he had prepared various comprehensive plans. He had defaulted to assuming Ruan Nian would not accept the doctor’s suggestion.
What Omega would willingly maintain any connection with an Alpha who had forced himself upon them? Meeting only during the estrus period was already the utmost concession.
This included establishing ground rules: not disturbing each other outside of estrus, and cooperating during estrus to minimize mutual influence and contact. Mu Yan had thought through these details so thoroughly that he had even drafted a preliminary agreement.
He had assumed Ruan Nian shared the same mindset: minimizing contact and purely taking what they needed from each other.
Such a setup sounded cold and ruthless, but Mu Yan knew very well in his heart that this was the absolute limit of what Ruan Nian, as the victim, could accept in agreeing to marry.
A normal relationship could never be maintained between an aggressor and a victim.
Mu Yan understood this clearly.
Even though it did not feel good at all.
He had not yet found an effective way to curb the urge of being autonomously attracted to an Omega after marking him; he attributed this discomfort to the aftereffects of his rut not having completely dissipated.
It will be fine after a little while longer, Mu Yan thought.
However, Ruan Nian clearly did not see it that way.
The young man’s soft, warm voice seemed to linger right beside his ear, making it tingle slightly:
“Because of some things, I will be staying on the capital planet for a while. The doctor suggested that I live with you during this time.”
At that moment, Mu Yan did not hesitate at all and agreed without a second thought.
Looking back now, he felt nothing but regret.
He had agreed much too quickly.
Would this frighten Ruan Nian? Would Ruan Nian think he had harbored hidden motives all along, which was why he answered so readily?
He did not want to bring any further harm to this Omega. On one hand, it was driven by a lingering sense of guilt; on the other hand, Ruan Nian was backed by the Ruan family, so excessive entanglements had to be avoided as much as possible.
Even while cohabitating, he would strictly take his suppressants on time and maintain a strict distance from Ruan Nian. The moment Ruan Nian showed the slightest bit of resistance, he would leave immediately.
Mu Yan had proactively drawn a line between them early on. He just had not expected that, in the days to come, both of them would repeatedly cross that boundary.
Ruan Nian had indeed been momentarily stunned at the time. But he quickly recovered, arranged the time and location to be picked up at Ruan Shi’s residence, and hung up the communication.
He tossed his smart brain aside and collapsed onto the soft bed in defeat.
A faint, uncontrollable scent of sweet milk drifted through the room.
I am just following doctor’s orders. Ruan Nian thought gloomily.
If he could, he would have loved to immediately book the earliest flight back to Mengxing.
It was just that Doctor Tan’s spell-like nagging kept buzzing and repeating in his ear: he needed Mu Yan’s pheromones, though he never knew when he would need them.
The best solution was to stay close to him. With the soothing effect of the Alpha’s pheromones, Ruan Nian’s own pheromones would quickly stabilize.
He felt somewhat irritated as to why he could not control his own pheromones properly. As a result, his emotions had been somewhat unstable over the past few days, always leading him to do all sorts of strange things.
Ruan Shi, who had spent several consecutive days eating weirdly flavored cakes, finally furrowed his brows and reluctantly agreed to let Ruan Nian live with Mu Yan, worn down by Tan Qiyu’s earnest persuasion.
It is just for a little while! The moment Ruan Nian’s pheromones stabilized, he would immediately bring his younger brother back home.
Thus, the temporary cohabitation between Ruan Nian and Mu Yan was settled.
This time, instead of having Tang Xian drive, Mu Yan decided to pilot the flying vehicle himself to pick up Ruan Nian.
Under the astonished gazes of his assistants, Mu Yan walked calmly out of the company building.
In reality, there was still plenty of time before their scheduled appointment. Since he was always busy and normally had no time for leisure, Mu Yan set the navigation route straight to the address Ruan Nian had provided.
Perhaps it was the work of pheromones, but he simply wanted to see his Omega at the earliest possible moment.
This feeling was somewhat strange. He was well aware that the other person was an independent individual, and given the accident between them, Ruan Nian would certainly never be willing to have excessive intersections with him.
At this thought, Mu Yan felt a wave of ungrounded irritation.
While waiting at a traffic light, his fingers tapped unconsciously against the dashboard, his gaze drifting aimlessly out the window.
A shop with pink and blue decor seemed to have just opened, with a long queue winding out its entrance.
The storefront sign was shaped like a milk tea cup. Aside from a rich variety of milk tea toppings, the top layer was crafted from a special material to resemble the texture of cotton candy, swaying slightly in the breeze, filling the air with a sweet aroma.
The people waiting in line appeared to be mostly youths, predominantly Betas and Omegas. Quite a few young couples stood in the queue, leaning against each other sweetly and whispering intimately.
Mu Yan blinked, stunned.
Star Milk Tea Shop?
Come to think of it, young people seemed to love these sweet drinks.
Would Ruan Nian like them?
Mu Yan recalled the young man’s pheromones, which smelled like sweet milk.
That night, he was softer and sweeter than cotton candy.
Suddenly, Mu Yan felt a wave of heat. Subconsciously, he wanted to move his fingers to lower the temperature inside the flying vehicle, but he froze.
Without realizing it, he had changed his destination. The navigation route showed a U-turn ahead.
The new destination was the Star Milk Tea Shop.
Mu Yan remained motionless for a long while until, in the final seconds of the traffic light, he switched the destination back to the original address.
Do not do redundant things, Mu Yan warned himself.
His relationship with Ruan Nian was merely forced by circumstances, a mutual exchange of what each other needed.
Inside Boyu Group’s top-tier medical laboratory, Qin Mo stared at two reports with an expression of unreadable gloom.
Both reports belonged to the same person: Mu Yan.
One was Mu Yan’s routine pheromone test report before his business trip, and the other was the pheromone sample test report sent by Song Qi on Mu Yan’s behalf after the accident.
Mu Yan’s physical condition was one of Boyu Group’s highest secrets. Every single one of his routine monitoring reports existed in only one single copy, held solely by his attending physician, Qin Mo.
Yet for this latest report, what Qin Mo held in his hands was merely a duplicate. As for where the original was, only the rebellious patient representative Mu Yan, who rarely followed doctor’s orders, probably knew.
Comparing the two reports one more time, Qin Mo took off his silver-rimmed glasses, tossed them onto the lab bench, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
His fingers tapped unconsciously on the armrest of his chair, his gaze drifting to some unknown point.
Almost all of the pheromone indicators affecting Mu Yan’s mental state had improved to varying degrees post-marking. These still fell within the category of normal reactions following an AO mark.
An Omega’s pheromones inherently had a soothing and calming effect on an Alpha. Even though the magnitude of the improvement was somewhat astonishing, it could still be attributed to the 98% high compatibility between Mu Yan and Ruan Nian.
Yet one item was bizarre beyond measure.
The activity of the S-factor was unbelievably high.
The S-factor activity was an indicator reflecting an Alpha’s docility. During wartime, S-factor activity was even used as an evaluation metric for Alpha troops. Alphas with excessively high indicators were judged to lack a steadfast personality and were easily prone to desertion in battle, leading to their elimination by the military.
Even when he was unfully differentiated with an immature will, Mu Yan had never exhibited such data.
A long while later, a sigh echoed through the empty laboratory.
How fascinating.
The other original copy lay quietly inside Tan Qiyu’s office drawer.
He had read it countless times over the past few days, even pulling some strings to access data from the capital planet hospital, and he still felt a lingering sense of disbelief and apprehension.
Such a case was far too special, and far too dangerous.
As the top executive of Boyu Group, Mu Yan had actually agreed to share this report with his side after being marked.
One had to know that Boyu and the Ruan family were even competitors in certain markets. If information leaked, or if someone tampered with it to shake Mu Yan’s willpower, it would deal a direct blow to Boyu.
Yet when Ruan Nian’s attending physician, Tan Qiyu, asked for it, Mu Yan had handed it over casually.
Ruan Nian’s physical condition truly gave him a headache. Even after the mark, his pheromones remained somewhat unstable. Under stimulation, they could easily become uncontrollable and escalate into estrus fever.
It would take time for further observation before adjusting the treatment plan, and during this period, Tan Qiyu would never let Ruan Nian run back to Mengxing alone.
Finally, after hesitating for a very, very long time, Tan Qiyu had to admit that temporary cohabitation was currently the best of all available solutions.
With such high S-factor activity, not only would Mu Yan not proactively harm Ruan Nian, but toward Ruan Nian, he was utterly obedient.
These matters had to be buried deep in his heart.
The ultra-high compatibility combination of rare pheromones was simply too rare, and the circumstances of both parties were so unusual. Tan Qiyu could only proceed step by step with extreme caution and treat the matter with utmost care.
It was just that Ruan Nian refused to undergo psychological evaluations with him.
Tan Qiyu’s heart ached with worry.
Perhaps to outsiders, this was an accident where both parties were at fault. But in Tan Qiyu’s eyes, Ruan Nian was the victim.
Was it really the liquid tequila that had harmed Ruan Nian?
The accident from their youth was the silent chief culprit.